Shop workers in Nottingham are having to clean up excrement, urine and dirty needles outside their businesses because homeless people use their doorways at night.

Now, they are calling on Nottingham City Council to work at housing them or ensuring their shop entrances are safe in a bid to tackle the problem.

Concerns have been raised that homeless people sleeping in doorways are causing trade to plummet and that businesses are the ones who have to pick up the cost of clearing it up.

The Business Improvement District (BID), which represents hundreds of businesses in the city centre, said it is calling an emergency meeting with the city council over the issue.

However, the city council argues that despite its best efforts, many rough sleepers are "entrenched in life on the streets" and do not want help.

Stephen Holland, 53, of comic and graphic novel store Page 45 in Market Street, which has been in the city for nearly 25 years, said: "Every evening we have to stuff cardboard into the gap under our door to prevent the urine soaking through to our doormat, then getting trampled in.

Jeff Allen, chairman of Nottingham Business Improvement District (BID) said: "It is extremely unpleasant for retailers in the city to arrive to do a day's work and find that their doorway is full of detritus of overnight sleepers or worse still, that it has been used as a lavatory.

"It is frankly unacceptable that this is happening in our city. We accept that there are no simple solutions but ultimately resolving this issue is fundamental to the prosperity of the city.

"We will be meeting with Nottingham City Council and other partners to discuss how we can tackle this issue."

Jeff Allen, chairman of BID

What the city council says

Councillor Toby Neal, portfolio holder for community protection at Nottingham City Council, said: "I understand why business owners and members of the public may see people on the streets and think nothing is being done. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

"In Nottingham we have a street outreach team who are out seven days a week supporting rough sleepers and trying to help them into accommodation.

"We have our 'Safe Space To Stay' facility which is open 24 hours a day, every day, plus a sit-up service at the London Road fire station in the winter.

"This is in addition to the offer of emergency and B&B accommodation where appropriate.

"We then have a 10-bed complex at Sneinton Hermitage, 20 beds at Emmanuel House and 248 adult beds available through supported accommodation schemes.

Councillor Toby Neal, of Nottingham City Council (Image: Tracey whitefoot)

"The problem that we face – and it’s a national issue – is that many rough sleepers are entrenched in life on the streets and, despite our best efforts, repeatedly turn down offers of help.

"We continue to try to change their mind, but have to respect the fact that we cannot force support on them if they don’t want it.

"I’m proud of the work we do in Nottingham to support rough sleepers, which is in the face of savage cuts from central government at a time when demand is so high.

"Until 2010, Nottingham alone received a £26m grant for this sort of work, when it was scrapped altogether by government, who have since also reduced our main grant from £127m to just £25m.

"We didn’t have the levels of rough sleeping that we see now when we had properly-funded support in place.

"However, we are continuing to do all we can to prevent homelessness, support vulnerable people facing homelessness and provide access to accommodation and other support services for people sleeping rough."

In response to the comments made by Mr Holland here and in a separate opinion piece, he added: "We share Stephen Holland’s concerns about the rise in rough sleeping and homelessness, but you really can’t talk about this issue without making any reference whatsoever to the role the Government’s austerity and housing policies have played in what is frankly a national scandal.

"It’s also the Government, not the Council, that sets the business rates Mr Holland refers to as being extortionate.

"Mr Holland mentions our hard-working Community Protection Officers who work round the clock, engaging with rough sleepers to get them the support they need, but our street cleaning teams are also out 20 hours a day.

"The Post recently went out with our Rough Sleeping Co-ordinator Kim Pike and Framework’s Street Outreach Team, which the Council funds, to see the work they do with rough sleepers. We’d offer that invitation to Mr Holland so he can see at first-hand what support the Council does provide, despite the challenges we face.

"Nottingham is one of the few areas locally which has retained its Homelessness Reduction Strategy. This includes a No First Night Out policy which is there to make sure all people sleeping rough are offered the chance to get off the streets."